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88 CHAPTER 10 Chaos’ stead we put the corresponding Night, we have exactly the Homeric sequence, a most ancient cosmogonic succession. 14. Syncretism and fusion between the Homeric-Orphic and the Hesiodic common tradition is reflected in the idea that the Ocean of mythology is one and the same with the Sky, that the current of liquid flowing coincides with the revolving Sky: both are ‰ÈÓ‹ÂÓÙÂ˜, primordial confluences, aboriginal periodic movements that limit the chaotic indeterminacy of Darkness. There is to this effect an etymology of ‘Ocean’ that derives the name from the fast movement of the heavens (the Worlds revolution). Etymologicum Magnum 821. 18 s.v. \øÎÂ·Ófi˜Ø ... apple·Úa Ùe èÎ¤ˆ˜ àÓ‡ÙÙÂÈÓ ï OéÚ·Óe˜ ÓÂÓfiÌÈÛÙ·È. Tethys correspondingly was taken to be the Earth (Hesychius s.vv. £¤ÙÈ˜ and TËı‡˜. Scholia ad Homeri Iliadem Ξ 201. Suda s.v. TËı‡˜. Etymologicum Magnum 756. 37 s.v. TËı‡˜. The correspondence and equivalence was here mediated by moisture as all-nurturing as in the case of Mother-Earth). Hesychius explains s.v. \øÎÂ·Ófi˜Ø à‹Ú, ı‹Ú etc. (or perhaps simply: \øÎÂ·Ófi˜Ø ·åı‹Ú instead of the manuscript error \øÎÂ·Ófi˜Ø à‹Ú ı‹Ú (sic)).The phrase èÎÂ·ÓÔÖÔ applefiÚÔ˜ (cf. Hesiod, Theogony 292. Aeschylus, Prometheus Vinctus, 532) was interpreted by some to mean à‹Ú, Hesychius s.v. \øÎÂ·ÓÔÖÔ applefiÚÔÓØ ÙeÓ à¤Ú·, Âå˜ nÓ ·î „˘¯·d ÙáÓ ÙÂÏÂ˘ÙÒÓÙˆÓ àappleÔ¯ˆÚÔÜÛÈ. The air of the atmosphere is the passage which the souls of the dying traverse. But this is just a speculative interpretation of the poetic term and of the souls of the dead crossing into Ocean (Odyssey, ˆ 11-14) based on the (Orphic and Pythagorean) theory according to which the souls as breaths are inhaled from, and exhaled to, the air. (cf. below Chapter 12, notes in pp.317 sqq.). The interpretation that the Ocean is the air can be found already in the Derveni papyrus (Col. XXIII. 3) where an Orphic verse referring to \øÎÂ·ÓeÓ ÂéÚf Ú¤ÔÓÙ· is commented upon 47 . In Timaeus 40e-41a Plato narrates the successions of the ‘invisible gods’ (àÊ·ÓÂÖ˜ ıÂÔ›), deities that is which are not celestial, planetic and astral. (He has already spoken of the manifest, visible gods at 40d). About the invisible gods (who manifest themselves Î·ı’ ¬ÛÔÓ iÓ âı¤ÏˆÛÈÓ 41a) we must be confident in, and put our trust into, the divinely transmitted stories, in the myths of the descendants and
MONISM OF DARKNESS - DUALISM OF LIMIT AND INDETERMINACY 89 children of gods who narrate their own lineage (40d-e). The term children and progeny of gods (apple·Ö‰Â˜ Î·d öÎÁÔÓÔÈ) includes also Orpheus, non-exclusively. The related succesion is as follows: Earth and HeavenOcean and TethysPhorcys, Cronos, Rhea and those that are with them, Zeus, Hera and all their siblings, other divinities, descendants of theirs. The Earth is characterized as appleÚÒÙËÓ Î·d appleÚÂ- Û‚˘Ù¿ÙËÓ ıÂáÓ ¬ÛÔÈ âÓÙe˜ ÔéÚ·ÓÔÜ ÁÂÁfiÓ·ÛÈÓ (40c). The major peculiarity of the system is that it makes Cronos and the Titans grandchildren of Earth and Sky; it upgrades the Ocean and Tethys to parents of the other Titans (though according to the Hesiodic and common tradition they were siblings), but regards them as children of Heaven and Earth. Another divergence from Hesiod lies in the Phorcys genealogy: though not a Titan in Hesiod (Theogony, 133 sqq.) he counts among the Titans here. In Rhapsodic Orphic Theology too he is a Titan (OF 114) 48 , as also in a passage of the Vatican Mythographer I, 204 cited above (it mentions precisely the three names of the Timaeus: Cronos, Rhea, Phorcys). In erudite poets the Homeric view prevails over the common Hesiodic tradition. Euphorion (Fr. 94 Powell, Collectanea Alexandrina p. 47) calls Eumenides ı˘Á·ÙÚÈ‰¤·È ºfiÚÎ˘ÓÔ˜. Usually the Erinyes are placed on a very high level on the genealogical ladder, descending from Night, Earth or any other of the highest principles. According to the Orphic Rhapsodic Theology they are daughters of Pluto (Hades) and Persephone (OF 197; Orphic Hymn to Eumenides 70, 1-3; Orphic Hymn to Erinyes 69, 8; Orphic Hymn to Persephone 29, 6), therefore granddaughters of Phorcys in the extensive sense (his daughters or his brother’s children), since Phorcys is a Titan, Cronos’ brother. Euphorion faithfully follows Orphic doctrine. In all other respects, the series coincide, and the peculiar presence of Phorcys makes the parallelism necessary: Timaeus 40e-41a: Earth, Sky - Ocean, Tethys - Cronos, Rhea, Phorcys Vat. Myth. I, 204: Ophion - Sky - Cronos, Rhea, Phorcys Because of the correspondence between Ophion and Ocean the scheme is evidently the same, the only difference being the reversal in the order of the first two terms. The Vatican Mythographer preserves
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